I have been a photographer off and on for 30 years and specializing in photographing birds for the last 8 years.  I currently reside in Saugatuck, Michigan; a beautiful town situated on the shores of Lake Michigan.  It’s a wonderful place to experience and capture the diversity and beauty of wild birds. I publish a weekly blog in an effort to learn more about birds and photography.

I’ve owned Pentax, Minolta and Canon photography equipment over the years and finally settled with Canon…. mainly because I think the quality of the L series lenses is outstanding.  Upgrading my dSLR equipment to “professional” quality has taken many years.  I currently own a Canon 1DX Mark II and a Canon 5 D Mark IV.  My “birding” lenses are a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM II Super Telephoto Lens and a Canon EF 500mm f/4.0 L IS USM II Super Telephoto Lens.  To get more distance, I have purchased the  Canon EF 1.4X III Telephoto Extender (to extend 300mm to 420mm) and the Canon EF 2.0 III Telephoto Extender (to extend 300mm to 600mm). I use the EF 2.0 rarely because the degradation of image quality outweighs the extra reach it provides.

If you are wondering what kind of photography equipment you should buy to photograph birds, start with the best you can afford.  Don’t wait til you have the money to buy the professional equipment.  You need a camera to learn and improve your skills.  Buy the best you can afford, keep saving your money, and slowly work your way up – selling the old equipment to help buy better equipment each time.  You will get to a point where you are happy with what you can do with your equipment.